Braves 4 Marlins 3: Tim Hudson is back, pitched well, etc. etc.
OK, with that out of the way, let’s get down to brass tax. This from
reader Matt H.:

The SportSouth broadcast of the Braves-Marlins tonight
showed the jumbotron at Landshark Stadium while Omar Infante was at
bat. In the foreground was the obligatory head shot, with his name and
number. In the background was–I kid you not–a picture of the General
Lee in mid-jump. Yes, that General Lee. I am as big a Braves fan as
there is, and I have no idea why the Marlins put that graphic up. Is
slick and sophisticated Miami poking fun at backwoods Georgia? That
doesn’t make sense, since any linkage of the General Lee with the
Braves is a net win for the Braves.

Seriously. Was that supposed to be a slam? Why don’t you just call the
Braves handsome and give them some free pie while you’re at it, because
there is nothing cooler than being associated with The General Lee.
Maybe the Bandit’s Trans-Am. Maybe.

Tigers 8, Indians 5: Aubrey Huff was 2-2 with 3 RBI. Sadly,
David Huff did not pitch for the Tribe or else I’d be forced to go
Groucho for the second time this year. Cleveland gave up 13 hits and
walked six guys and that lead to the loss. A child of five would
understand this. Quick, send someone to fetch a child of five. Carlos
Carrasco was called up from my hometown of Columbus to pitch in this
disaster. You’re a brave man, Carlos. And remember, while you were out
there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we were all in
here thinking what a sucker you are. Oh crap, I did it again.

Twins 4, White Sox 3: The White Sox lose. They were probably
discombobulated from having the team’s average age plummet by eight
years since Monday night’s trades. Jeff Manship gave up one run over
five innings. He didn’t figure in the decision, but boy howdy do I like
to say “Manship.”

Cardinals 7, Brewers 6: Joel Pineiro is the only dude in
baseball who can get away with striking out no one. St. Louis is 30-4
since July 1st in starts by Wainwright, Carpenter and Pineiro. I
predict one awesome NLCS, assuming we can dispose of L.A. and whoever wins the wild card quickly enough.

Cubs 4, Astros 1: In the fifth, Jeff Baker hit what appeared to
be an inning-ending double play, but Miguel Tejada made an errant throw
to second, allowing Soriano to advance to third. I had no idea that
Baker was from the Dominican Republic.

Red Sox 8, Rays 4: The return of Andy Sonnanstine was less than
fabulous (4 IP, 8 H, 5 R), and I think it’s gettin’ time to bid adieu
to the Rays in 2009. Papelbon pulled a Gossage and pitched a two-inning
save. Then he grew a ridiculous mustache and went on a rant about
pitchers today are wusses.

Reds 11, Pirates 5: Game story: “Pittsburgh is four defeats shy
of becoming the first major American professional team to string
together 17 straight losing seasons.” What happens first: the Pirates
break .500, or Sid Bream dies of old age?

Rockies 8, Mets 3: Lance Broadway pitches two scoreless innings
in relief for the Mets. In other news, “Lance Broadway” was the name I
used on vacations to Las Vegas between the years 1996 and 2002.

Yankees 9, Orioles 6: Two homers for Posada and another shaky performance from Burnett that is likely to fly under the radar.
According to the game story, Posada lost track of the count twice. The
second time he hit a homer after mistakenly thinking he struck out.
You’d think that a catcher of all people wouldn’t lose track of the
count.

Dodgers 4, Diamondbacks 3: Matt Kemp homered for the fourth
straight game. The last Dodger to do that was Hee Seop Choi so, you
know, heady company. A spectacular catch by Andre Ethier in the eighth
inning followed his bases-loaded walk in the seventh which brought in
the winning run.

Royals 4, Athletics 3: The A’s had their chances, but they stranded 11, going 1 for 10 with men in scoring position.

Padres 4, Nationals 1: I’m guessing no one outside of Padre or
National Nation knew this, but apparently the Padres have owned the
Nationals over the years, having gone 30-9 against them since they
ceased to be the Expos.

Mariners 2, Angels 1: A week or so ago Ken Griffey, being
interviewed by a Cincinnati magazine, said that he was going to make it
so that music from “The Nutcracker” played when Adrian Beltre returned
from his injured testicle stint on the DL. I thought that was harsh and
I didn’t think he’d actually do it, but I’ll be damned if he didn’t in
this game. I think something about that should make up the final line
on his Hall of Fame plaque.

Tempers flared between the Astros and Rangers on Monday in Arlington. In the bottom of the second inning, Astros starter Collin McHugh threw a first-pitch fastball inside to Rangers outfielder Carlos Gomez. Gomez didn’t like it, so he stared at McHugh for a few seconds. Gomez fouled off the next pitch and jawed at McHugh before taking a few steps towards the mound. McHugh came in and the benches emptied. Fortunately, order was quickly restored and both teams were issued warnings.

The Astros and Rangers had a benches-clearing incident earlier this season as well. In a game in Houston on May 1, Astros starter Lance McCullers threw inside to Mike Napoli, which caused the benches to spill out onto the field. McHugh also hit Gomez with a first pitch fastball in the second inning on August 31 and Mike Fiers did the same in the second inning on August 12. As a result, Gomez thinks the Astros have it out for him. Via Levi Weaver of WFAA Sports:

The second pitch, he took a big swing and fouled it off and took about five steps out toward the mound, looking me straight in the eye. I just asked him if we had a problem. It was a rhetorical question because, clearly, he’s got a problem with me. I don’t exactly know what it is, but whatever the case, he came out and I asked him what the issue was and he said, ‘Yeah, I got a problem with you.’ That was it. Everybody else was out there by that point in time. The game goes on. I don’t want to spend any more mental effort thinking about Carlos Gomez.

The series resumes on Tuesday night as Dallas Keuchel will oppose Cole Hamels. It will be interesting to see if the drama bleeds over into this one.

In the bottom of the second inning of Monday night’s game at Busch Stadium, Cubs shortstop Addison Russell dove into the stands down the left field line in an attempt to catch a foul ball. A Cardinals fan holding a tray of nachos was in Russell’s path and had his tasty treat knocked onto the dirt in front of the stands. Russell did the fan a solid, though, bringing him a new tray of nachos and posed for a selfie. The fan was also later seen taking selfies with other fans.

“A guy fell into him and got nacho cheese on his arm and now he’s taking pictures and signing autographs. It shows you where our society’s at right now with all that stuff.”

It wasn’t like Lester had a poor outing and that’s why he was salty. The lefty yielded just one run on five hits and two walks with four strikeouts over six innings. Lester just, uh, hates selfies, I guess? I’m also not sure how the whole scenario is a reflection of American society, unless he means that people can turn a disappointing situation into a fun and heartwarming situation.

At least Russell and Cubs manager Joe Maddon had a good sense of humor about it. Maddon said the whole thing was “pretty entertaining.” Russell said, “You don’t get between a man and his nachos.”